As the field of computer science has evolved, a variety of data entry techniques have been developed to enhance the individual's experience and to make computers more versatile. For example, a typical computer system, especially a computer system using graphical user interfaces for user interaction may be optimized for accepting input from one or more discrete input devices. Thus, an individual may enter text with a keyboard, and control the position of a pointer image on a display screen with a pointing device, such as a mouse, having one or more buttons for activating selections associated with the location of the pointer. Some computing systems even have included a pen-like stylus that can be used as a multipurpose data input device.
A variety of software applications have been developed that permit an individual to form data files by entering characters with a keyboard or other input device. As utilized herein, the term character is intended to encompass a symbol or other figure that may be entered by the individual. Examples of characters include alphabetic characters, whether from the Roman, Cyrillic, Arabic, Hebrew, or Greek alphabets, for example. Furthermore, a character may be a numeral, a punctuation mark, or one of the various symbols that are commonly utilized in written text, such as $, #, %, &, or @, for example. In addition, a character may be one of the various symbols utilized in Asian languages, such as the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages. Groups of various characters that form words or word-type units are hereby defined as a text unit.
Although conventional character entry with a keyboard is generally considered to be a convenient and expedient process, an average individual frequently enters incorrect characters and is required to modify the incorrect characters with the intended or correct characters. A common method of modifying the incorrect characters involves the use of a pointing device, for example a mouse or trackball. In order to modify the incorrect characters, the individual will cease entering characters and move one hand to the pointing device, and attempt to manipulate the pointing device to position the cursor to the incorrect character within the entire viewable X-Y field. The individual will then delete the incorrect character, replace the incorrect character with the intended or correct character, and manipulate the pointing device to move the cursor to another location which is typically the prior location of the cursor immediately before the edit. Alternately, various spell-checking programs may be utilized, for example, and some individuals may employ variations or combinations of these methods for modifying the incorrect characters. Such is normally done at the completion of the document in view of the potential disruption to the data entering process. In either event, however, the individual generally redirects attention from the keyboard to the pointing device when modifying the incorrect characters, which may decrease the efficiency of the individual, particularly when repetitively performed. Similar considerations apply to the correction of text units.
The error rate for an average individual utilizing a QWERTY keyboard for phonics-based Asian language input can be as high as 20% or worse. The error rate for an average individual utilizing a QWERTY keyboard to enter characters in the English language, for example, is generally significantly less. Accordingly, phonics-based Asian language input has a greater error rate, which further decreases the efficiency of the individual. The increased error rate for phonics-based Asian language input is directly related to the characteristics of the Asian languages. With regard to the Chinese language, for example, there are tens of thousands of characters, but only approximately 400 corresponding pronunciations, and adding four tones to the pronunciations expands the total number of pronunciations to approximately 1600. Given the relatively large number of characters utilized in the Chinese language, many different characters have similar pronunciations and are, therefore, phonetically-similar. Coupled with the expanding Chinese vocabulary, the number of similar pronunciations introduces an intrinsically-high error rate in phonics-based Chinese language input. Similar considerations apply to the Japanese and Korean languages.
Concepts related to phonics-based Asian language input and a conventional method of correcting characters in phonics-based Asian language input will now be discussed. For purposes of illustration, a Chinese language version of phonics-based Asian language input, which is generally referred to as Pinyin, will be utilized herein. One skilled in the relevant art will appreciate, however, that similar concepts may be applied to other Asian languages. In general, a QWERTY keyboard is utilized for Pinyin input to enter Roman characters and combinations of Roman characters that phonetically represent the intended Chinese character. A software application then processes the Roman characters and converts the Roman characters to a corresponding Chinese character that is similar-similar. As discussed above, many different characters have similar pronunciations and are similar-similar. Accordingly, the software application may convert the Roman characters to an incorrect or unintended Chinese character that is similar-similar to the intended Chinese character.
When an incorrect Chinese character is identified by the individual, in an existing system, the pointing device may be moved to place the cursor before and immediately adjacent to the incorrect Chinese character. A list of potential replacement Chinese characters is then displayed adjacent to the incorrect Chinese character. The individual manipulates the pointing device to select the correct Chinese character from the list. In many instances, the list may display only a portion of the total number of potential replacement Chinese characters, which may correspond with the Chinese characters that are most likely to be used on a statistical basis. Accordingly, the individual may be required to scroll through numerous lists before finding the correct Chinese character. Once the correct Chinese character is located and selected, the software application replaces the incorrect Chinese character with the correct Chinese character and the individual may continue entering characters until another incorrect Chinese character is identified. The cursor remains at the location of the corrected Chinese character and the individual will typically move the pointing device to the end of the line or document to continue entering data into the document.
Due to the relatively high error rate for phonics-based Asian language input, individuals are required to frequently identify incorrect characters and then identify the correct characters from lists of possible replacement characters, as discussed above. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize that this process may be time-consuming and inefficient given an approximate error rate of 20% or more for an average individual utilizing a QWERTY keyboard for phonics-based Asian language input.